CAPUTO: Red Wings have history on their side

Detroit Red Wings' Henrik Zetterberg (40) battles for the puck against Chicago Blackhawks' Jonathan Toews (19) during the first period of Game 1 of an NHL hockey playoffs Western Conference semifinal in Chicago, Wednesday, May 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

If there is any encouragement derived from the Red Wingsí discouraging Game 1 performance at Chicago, itís their track record.

They have displayed wild and wide swings in performance level all year. While it makes it difficult to trust the Red Wings when they have played well, itís unwise to write them off, also, after a stinker effort like Wednesdayís in a Western Conference semifinal Stanley Cup playoff series.

The Red Wings get a clean slate Saturday in Game 2. Their essential objective entering the first two road games of the series is unchanged - win one and take the home-ice advantage. The pace of the series should help them. The Red Wings will have had two days off to regroup.

Several questions loom heading into Game 2. These are some of them:

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- Are the Red Wings just spent? Itís like the Red Wings have been on the verge of elimination repeatedly for a month. It took a dramatic and improbable comeback to make the playoffs for the 22nd straight year. Every game was nip-and-tuck in the first-round ouster of the Anaheim Ducks. The Red Wings won three games in overtime. They were down three games to two in the series before rallying. They had to win Game 7 on the road.

Now they are facing a buzz saw in the Blackhawks, the NHLís best team during the regular season, in an extremely hostile environment.

I believed Chicago would win this series with relative ease (in five games), but I figured the Red Wingsí big chance came from being in a do-or-die mode for such a long span. There is a flipside to that, and itís perhaps the Red Wings donít have much left emotionally and physically after a such a grind the last month. The Blackhawks are fresh and healthy.

- Are the Blackhawks just too good? When there is a matchup like this, a top seed (Chicago) vs. a seventh-seed (Detroit), itís pointed out how many times the lower seed tends to win during the Stanley Cup playoffs. But in truth, the better team wins most of the time. It just get doesnít get the loud headlines when it happens in the earlier rounds. Some years, parity is the order of the playoffs in the NHL. Certainly it was last year when a sixth-seed (New Jersey) lost to an eighth-seed (Los Angeles) in the finals. But this season has taken on a different tone. Itís been clear for awhile that the Blackhawks in the Western Conference, and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the Eastern Conference, are the two best teams. At this point, it almost appears destined they will meet in the finals. And it would have the makings of a truly great series.

- Can the Red Wings score goals vs. the Blackhawks? As a badge of confidence, the Red Wings have made a point of talking about how close their games with the Blackhawks were during the regular season. The Red Wings lost all four, but two of them were shootout losses, another in overtime. However, in five games vs. the Blackhawks this season (four regular season and Wednesdayís second-round playoff opener), the Red Wings have scored just four goals. It wasnít just they were outshot 41-21 Wednesday, but they didnít have many legitimate scoring chances. Pavel Datsyuk, the Red Wingsí best player, didnít have a shot on goal.

- Can the Red Wings tighten up defensively? The Red Wings defensive corps turned in an alarmingly poor performance in Game 1. If it werenít for goalie Jimmy Howard, Detroit would have been beaten by a far more lopsided margin than three goals. What is difficult to discern is whether it was because the Red Wingsí defense is so bad or the Blackhawks are just that good.

Pat Caputo is a senior sports reporter and a columnist for Digital First Media. Contact him at pat.caputo@oakpress.com and read his blog at theoaklandpress.com. You can follow him on Twitter @patcaputo98